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Wfyt  ILibxavp 

of  tfje 

28niber£itj>  of  i^ortf)  Carolina 


Collection  of  ffiottf)  Carolmtana 

Cnbotoeb  op 

STofm  a>pnmt  Sill 

#t  tfje  Class  of  1889 


'      5  ■■■' 

SERMON  * 

IN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE 

SITUATION,   WANTS  AND   PROSPECTS 


€\m\  k  %  giws*  0f  pr$  itollw 


BY 
REV.   JARVIS    BUXTON, 

RECTOR  OF  TRINITY  CHURCH,  ASHETIIXE,  N.  C. 


POTT    &    AMERY, 
5  &  13  COOPER  UNION,  FOURTH  AVENUE. 

1867. 


PREFACE. 


The  resolution,  under  which  the  author  of  this  Ser- 
mon was  appointed  Agent  by  the  Standing  Committee 
of  the  Diocese  of  North  Carolina,  was  offered  by  him 
in  Convention ;  but  for  the  particular  views  here  ex- 
pressed, and  for  the  mode  of  working,  under  it,  sug- 
gested, he  solely  is  responsible. 

The  Sermon  is  sent,  as  a  reminder  of  promised  col- 
lections, to  many  of  the  Clergy,  whom  he  visited  last 
summer,  and  also  to  others  whom  he  had  no  opportu- 
nity of  seeing,  but  whose  interest  in  the  contemplated 
undertaking,  he  begs  to  solicit  in  the  form  of  a  collec- 
tion in  aid  of  it. 

If,  after  reading  the  Sermon,  they  approve  of  the 
views  and  plan  suggested,  and  they  know  of  any  lay- 
men, within  their  parishes,  who  would  be  likely  to  take 
kindly  interest  in  such  a  work,  and  be  glad  to  help  it 
forward,  they  will  please,  for  the  sake  of  the  cause, 
give  them  an  opportunity  of  reading  and  judging  for 
themselves. 

Address, 

Rev.  J.  Buxton, 

Ashemlle,  North  Carolina. 

5 


r<k 


SERMON. 


Nehemiah  ii.  18 :— "  Then  1  told  them  of  the  Land  of  my  God,  which 
was  good  upon  me :  as  also  the  King's  words  that  he  had  spoken  unto  me. 
And  they  said,  let  us  rise  up  and  build :  so  they  strengthened  their  hands  for 
this  good  work.'''' 

It  was  after  surveying  by  night  the  ruined  walls  of 
Jerusalem,  and  after  the  warmest  sympathies  of  his 
heart  had  been  stirred  by  taking  in  the  distress  of  the 
land  with  his  own  eyes,  that  Nehemiah  gave  vent  to 
the  good  purpose  which  God  had  put  in  his  heart,  and 
called  on  the  people  and  their  rulers  to  build  and  re- 
pair the  waste  places  of  Zion.  He  did  not  fail  to  re- 
count, for  their  encouragement  and  his  own,  what  the 
good  hand  and  providence  of  God  had  already  done 
toward  his  design,  presaging  eventual  success.  The 
history  of  his  anxieties  and  fears,  and  sorrow  of  heart 
and  prayer  to  the  God  of  Heaven,  was  indelibly  re- 
corded upon  the  memory  of  this  man,  who  had  come 
from  the  palace  of  the  King  of  Babylon,  in  which  he 
held  an  honorable  office,  to  seek  the  welfare  of  his  dis- 
tressed brethren,  the  children  of  Israel.  There  he  had 
mourne  1  and  fasted  and  prayed,  and  confessed  his  sins 
and  the  sins  of  Israel. 


The  views  and  feelings  of  this  earnestly  good  man 
fired  the  hearts  and  nerved  to  action  the  hands  of  those 
who  heard  from  his  own  lips  the  story  of  the  good 
hand  and  dealings  of  his  God  toward  him,  and  with 
one  voice  they  cried  out,  "  Let  us  rise  up  and  build," 
vigorously  suiting  their  action  to  the  word. 

The  history  of  the  American  Church,  immediately 
after  the  Revolution  of  1776,  exhibited  scenes  over 
again  of  the  times  of  Nehemiah — scenes  of  churches 
fallen  into  decay  and  ruin,  though  in  some  parts  of  the 
country  more  completely  than  in  others.  In  none,  per- 
haps, more  than  in  North.  Carolina,  were  the  fortunes 
of  the  Church  reduced  lower  by  that  shock  and  conflict 
of  arms.  Its  buildings  were  destroyed  or  desecrated, 
its  ministers  dispersed,  its  people  scattered  like  sheep 
without  a  shepherd,  its  property  appropriated  by 
strangers ;  so  that  during  the  long  night  which  suc- 
ceeded, ruthless  ruin  seemed  to  seize  upon  this  portion 
of  God's  heritage  for  its  prey ;  and  the  first  Bishop  of 
North  Carolina,  when,  like  Nehemiah,  he  came  to  seek 
her  welfare,  and  went  out,  as  in  the  night  time,  to 
make  observations  of  the  broken  down  walls  of  Zion, 
found  his  pathway  almost  blocked  by  shapeless  heaps 
of  obstruction.  But,  under  the  inspiring  words  and 
example  of  Ravenscroft,  and  the  good  hand  of  God 
which  was  upon  him,  the  friends  of  the  Church  rose  up 
and  builded,  and  they  strengthened  their  hands  for 
that  good  work. 

Ak'an  while  the  population  of  the  State  had  filled  up 
with  a  people  either  unacquainted  with  or  j:>rejudiced 
against  what  had  been  the  old  mother  Church  of  the 
Province  of  Carolina,  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  progress 


of  the  Church  was  extremely  slow  ;  though  that  must 
be  attributed  in  part  to  the  scarcity  of  clergy  among 
the  people.  Even  up  to  this  day,  the  clergy,  for  the 
most  part,  have  been  able  to  occupy  only  the  principal 
centres  of  the  State  in  its  towns  and  cities.  The 
country,  where  the  mass  of  the  people  live,  they  have 
hardly  yet  reached. 

The  eastern  part  of  the  State  had  been  the  seat  of 
the  Colonial  Church.  The  western  was,  at  that  time,  an 
almost  unexplored  wilderness,  particularly  that  region 
west  of  the  Blue  Bidge,  which  has  since  filled  up  with 
a  population,  to  most  of  whom,  outside  of  the  villages, 
this  Church  has  not  yet  been  made  known,  even  by  oc- 
casional ministrations.  It  is  in  the  midst  of  this  Blue 
Ridge  region,  of  unrivalled  natural  beauty  and  gran- 
deur, that  the  Diocese  of  North  Carolina  proposes  to 
found  an  Associated  Mission,  to  serve,  among  its  other 
uses  of  preaching  the  Gospel  through  that  region  from 
a  central  spot,  as  a  Training  School  also,  for  rearing  up 
a  native  ministry  upon  her  own  soil.  This  blended 
missionary  and  ministerial  educational  enterprise 
within  the  Diocese  is  not  of  yesterday's  origin,  but 
dates  back  to  the  year  1855,  when  a  tract  of  land, 
eleven  and  a  half  acres,  situated  in  the  village  of  Ashe- 
ville,  and  with  a  large  brick  building  upon  it,  was 
bought  and  deeded  to  the  Diocese  for  those  purposes. 
The  first  cost  of  the  whole  purchase,  together  with  im- 
provements since  put  upon  it,  has  been  about  $7,000. 

The  Diocese  now  finds  itself  in  possession  of  this  val- 
uable property,  with  an  utter  inability  to  use  it  for  its 
purposes ;  while  at  the  same  time  the  imperious  neces- 
sity, ever  more  and  more  pressing,  of  devising  some 


8 

means  for  drawing  forth  from  its  own  soil,  and  educa- 
ting a  native  ministry,  compel  her  to  put  forth  some 
effort  for  her  relief.  There  seemed  no  possibility  of  ob- 
taining needed  funds  at  home  in  the  present  impover- 
ished condition  of  her  people.  In  this  emergency  the 
Convention  of  1866  adopted  the  following  Resolution  : 
"  Whereas,  it  is  highly  important  for  the  interests  of 
"  the  Church  in  this  Diocese,  at  this  time  in  particular, 
"  that  preparations  be  making  in  order  to  use  with 
"  effect  and  without  delay,  the  Church  property  at 
"  Asheville  for  the  purposes  of  a  Divinity  School,  in 
"  connection  with  an  Associated  Mission  :  Therefore, 
"  Resolved,  That  an  agent  be  sent  abroad  by  the 
"  Standing  Committee,  in  the  absence  of  the  Bishop,  to 
"  solicit  funds  for  carrying  these  purposes  into  effect, 
"  (with  the  aid,  if  possible,  of  the  General  Domestic 
"  Committee,)  and  that  he  be  commended  by  this  Con- 
"  vention  to  the  Christian  attentions  and  charities  of 
"  the  members  and  ministers  of  this  Church." 

This  movement  of  the  Convention  the  Bishop  of  the 
Diocese,  on  returning  from  abroad,  sanctioned,  by  send- 
ing a  commendatory  letter  to  the  agent  that  had  been 
appointed. 

Under  this  appointment  of  the  Ecclesiastical  authori- 
ties of  North  Carolina,  your  speaker  appears  before 
you,  by  kind  permission,  to  present  an  appeal  on  be- 
half of  the  Associated  Missionary  and  Ministerial  Edu- 
cational Work,  in  which  that  Diocese  is  about  to  en- 
gage. 

He  desires  to  impart  to  you  some  idea  of  the  situa- 
tion, wants  and  prospects  of  the  Church  in  North 
Carolina.     Fully  aware,  as  he  is,  of  the  frequent  claims 


for  Parish  help  that  have  been  made  of  late  from  the 
South,  nothing  but  the  consideration  of  the  importance 
of  the  proposed  undertaking  to  the  future  of  a  whole 
Diocese,  would  have  induced  him,  for  the  purpose  of 
helping  it  forward,  to  quit  the  retirement  of  his  own 
Parish,  far  away  beneath  "  the  Black  Dome "  of  the 
Alleghanies.  It  is  his  deep  conviction  that  noio  is  the 
time,  brought  about  by  God's  providence,  for  estab- 
lishing a  centralized  Working  and  Educational  Mission 
and  Seminary  in  North  Carolina.  These  two  purposes, 
he  apprehends,  must  be  blended  together,  in  order  to 
meet  the  pressing  wants  of  our  situation.  An  Associate 
Mission,  banded  together  for  systematic  work  of  the 
ministry,  among  the  people,  it  is  conceived  will  be  the 
best  nursery  of  the  class  of  Ministers  such  as  the  times 
demand  ;  not  that  are  underrated  at  all  the  advantages 
of  purely  theological  seminaries,  whose  requirements 
for  admission  shall  be  "  full  literary  qualifications," 
and  whose  course  of  study  shall  be  an  elaborate  curri- 
culum of  Theology,  within  learned  cloisters.  The 
Church  already  has  these  Institutions  iii  her  older  and 
more  popular  Dioceses.  They  are  eminently  necessary 
in  this  age,  and  thither  indeed  would  naturally  tend  all, 
;■  or  most  all,  of  the  extraordinary  talent  that  should  be 
elicited  in  any  seminary,  of  lower  theological  standard 
and  of  more  immediate  practical  aims.  What  we  need 
in  our  Southern  Dioceses  (to  speak  for  our  own,  at 
least)  is  a  ministry  taken  from  among  the  people  and 
returned  to  them  again,  with  sufficiency  of  sound 
learning,  drilled  in  all  the  offices  of  the  ministry,  under 
clergy  who  are  themselves  active  Evangelists  of  the 
Word  ;  a  ministry  of  great  preaching  power,  burning 


10 

with  zeal  and  love  for  the  souls  for  whom  Christ  died, 
with  the  full  consciousness  of  their  mission  from  the 
Head  of  the  Church,  and  ready  to  be  spent  for  His 
sake,  even  unto  the  sacrifice  of  life.  So  long  as  the 
Church's  efforts  were  chiefly  directed  toward  the  cul- 
tivated classes  of  the  community,  in  towns  and  cities, 
under  parochial  organizations,  was  it  necessary  for  her 
ministry,  as  a  whole,  to  be  educated  up  to  the  highest 
point  of  the  education  of  those  classes  ;  for  the  ranks 
of  the  ministry,  however  spiritually  adorned,  can  never 
safely  fall  behind  any  class  in  mental  cultivation  and 
accomplishments  within  the  sphere  of  its  exercise ; 
but,  beside  general  elevation,  should  largely  contain 
representative  men  of  the  age,  in  science  and  learning. 
It  is  but  one  aspect  of  the  principle  referred  to  which 
makes  a  moderate  degree  only  of  cultivation  needed 
for  efficient  ministration  among  the  mass  of  the  people, 
provided  the  all-important  call  of  office  and  gifts  of 
grace  be  not  wanting.  The  mass  of  the  people  are 
but  moderately  cultivated,  and  are  likely  to  remain  so 
under  the*imposed  law  of  living  by  their  own  labor ; 
so  that  it  may  justly  be  doubted  whether  a  thorough 
scholastic  training,  with  the  mental  habits  necessarily 
contracted  in  the  course  of  it,  'bating  particular  excep- 
tions, may  not  be  considered  an  encumbrance,  like 
Saul's  armor,  rather  than  a  help  to  Missionary  and 
aggressive  warfare  among  the  people.  In  the  progress 
of  time,  however,  the  elevation  or  mental  improvement 
of  the  people  at  large,  to  which  nothing,  indeed,  con- 
duces so  much  as  a  preached  Gospel,  would  create  the 
necessity  of  corresponding  elevation  in  the  attainments 
of  their  ministry.    Any  other  theory  of  ministerial  edu- 


11 

cation,  however  speculatively  perfect,  will  fail  in  prac- 
tice ;  in  point  of  fact,  the  ministers  of  any  Church 
cannot  be  required  to  be  all  learned  men,  without  the 
sacrifice  of  the  people,  so  far  as  they  are  concerned^  to 
entire  ignorance  of  the  Gospel :  either  they  never  reach 
the  ear  of  the  people  at  all,  by  reason  of  their  small 
number,  or  their  very  education,  conducted  irrespec- 
tively of  the  wants  of  the  masses,  has,  in  all  proba- 
bility, disqualified  them  for  the  most  edifying  exercise 
of  their  office.  Meanwhile,  some  master  eye  catches 
the  necessity  of  the  situation,  proceeds  to  organize,  in 
spite  of  all  opposition  on  the  side  whence  should  have 
come  the  welcome  of  "  God  speed,"  an  efficient  arm  of 
service  in  lightly  equipped  bands  of  men,  who,  having 
first  given  themselves  to  Christ,  are  ready,  at  the  word, 
for  scaling  the  mountain  side,  or  penetrating  the  lone 
valley,  or,  still  harder  task,  diving  into  the  huddled- 
up  masses  of  manufacturing  towns.  The  end  is,  that 
whole  classes  of  the  community  become  united  in  re- 
ligious societies  of  their  own,  and  know  not  the  Church 
for  their  Mother.  Too  late  is  seen  the  folly  of  relying 
solely  upon  learned  Universities  for  meeting  the  life 
and  death  wants  of  a  whole  people,  and  upon  petty 
parochial  cures,  which  ought  to  succeed,  not  precede 
the  labors  of  Evangelists,  and  become,  in  turn,  living 
centres  of  the  extension  of  the  Gospel. 

If  the  situation  and  wants  of  a  Southern  Diocese, 
before  the  late  civil  war,  indicated  the  need  of  a  more 
popularized  ministry,  much  more  does  the  present 
crisis  of  the  Church  there  imperatively  demand  such 
a  ministry  for  her  people.  Never,  in  the  history  of  the 
Church  in  North  Carolina,  were  the  prospects  more 


12 

favorable  for  doing  her  part  toward  nationalizing  this 
Church  something  more  than  in  name.  The  overruling 
providence  of  God  is  continually  vindicating  its  su- 
premacy by  educing  good  out  of  evil ;  light  out  of 
darkness.  While  the  soil  of  a  whole  people  is  being 
driven  through  and  broken  up  by  the  rough  plough- 
share of  war,  and  watered  with  blood  and  tears,  this 
evil  of  man's  devising  is  often  the  chosen  preparation, 
in  the  wisdom  of  God,  for  breaking  up  old  strifes  and 
errors  and  prejudices,  and  for  renewing  and  purifying 
the  life  and  spirit  of  a  nation  for  a  more  exalted  future 
in  the  designs  of  Providence.  In  this  light,  chiefly,  are 
we  concerned  to  interpret  the  sorrowful  past  of  late 
years.  In  any  other  view  considered  than  as  advancing 
the  interests  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ,  by  preparing 
the  way  before  Him,  "  let  the  dead  bury  their  dead." 
The  war  of  1V76,  out  of  whose  throes  the  happy  and 
more  perfect  Union  of  the  States  was  born,  had 
through  the  Southern  country  ruptured  the  ties  which 
bound  together  clergy  and  people.  The  ministers  of 
tha  Church  of  England,  as  they  then  were,  sided  with 
the  crown  of  England ;  and,  for  the  most  part,  either 
suspended  the  exercise  of  their  functions  altogether  or 
else  quit  the  country.  The  whole  burden  of  popular 
odium  fell  upon  this  Church  and  crushed  it  to  the  dust, 
in  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas.  A  remarkably  different 
result  ensued  at  the  end  of  the  late  civil  war,  in  these 
States.  The  clergy,  as  a  whole,  with  a  few  noted 
exceptions,  had  confined  themselves  to  the  proper 
duties  of  their  office,  such  as  burying  the  dead,  tending 
the  sick  and  wounded,  preaching  at  home  repentance 
and  humiliation  as  the  duties  of  the  hour,  making  mis- 


13 

sionary  excursions  to  the  camps,  where  they  were  ever 
welcome,  or  serving  as  chaplains  at  posts,  in  the  field 
or  in  hospitals.  Even  public  opinion  required  the 
clergy,  as  a  class,  to  confine  themselves  to  duties  such 
as  these,  and  the  very  few  of  our  own  Church  who, 
from  their  pulpits,  tuned  the  peaceful  Trump  of  the 
Gospel  into  martial  strains,  soon  felt  themselves  re- 
buked into  moderation  or  into  silence.  A  conclusive 
proof  of  the  public  sentiment  of  the  day  is  the  fact,  that 
the  officiating  ministry  of  all  religious  denominations, 
during  the  whole  war,  from  beginning  to  end,  and  in 
every  exigency,  was  expressly  exempted  from  conscrip- 
tion; and,  moreover,  persons  in  the  ranks  were  or- 
dained, under  their  proper  testimonials,  and  forthwith 
assigned  to  chaplain  duties.  As  a  consequence  of  the 
clergy  (I  speak  for  our  own)  thus  throwing  themselves, 
as  a  body,  into  the  spiritual  duties  of  their  office,  and 
remaining  faithful  to  all  the  humanities,  they  retained 
the  good  will  and  affection  of  their  flocks  all  through 
the  war,  however  variant,  as  they  were  in  some  cases, 
their  political  sympathies  might  be  from  the  dominant 
ones  of  the  hour.  With  the  end  of  the  war,  the  clergy, 
with  their  flocks,  were  ready,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
to  return  back  into  their  old  relations,  which  nothing 
but  a  state  of  war  had  interrupted — the  Diocese  of 
North  Carolina  leading  the  goodly  van,  and  the  good 
providence  of  God  furnishing  the  public  occasion  at 
the  last  General  Convention.  But  it  is  not  deemed 
overstated  as  the  abiding  impression  of  all  thoughtful 
men  at  the  South,  that  had  not  the  reunion  been 
inaugurated,  at  that  particular  time,  by  the  attend- 
ance and  influence   of  the   Bishop   and  Delegates   of 


14 

North  Carolina,  as  well  as  by  the  wise  moderation  and 
warm  fraternal  spirit  in  which  they  were  met  by  that 
august  body,  the  legislative  union  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  this  country,  in  all  human  proba- 
bility, would  have  been  numbered  among  the  things 
that  were.  The  same  "  dreary  sea"  of  broken  friend- 
ship would  have  flowed  between  as  now  sunders  other 
Protestant  bodies — 

"  That  stand  aloof,  the  scars  remaining, 
Like  cliffs  which  had  been  rent  asunder. 
A  dreary  sea  now  flows  between : 
But  neither  heat,  nor  frost,  nor  thunder, 
Shall  wholly  do  away,  I  ween, 
The  marks  of  that  which  once  hath  been." 

The  rapid  glance  we  have  taken  of  late  events  may 
help  to  understand  the  present  situation  of  the  Church 
in  North  Carolina,  as  regards,  in  general,  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  people.  At  this  moment  she  stands  on 
higher  vantage  ground  for  fulfilling  her  mission  than 
she  ever  before  occupied  in  her  whole  history.  In  the 
fiery  crucible  of  war,  prejudices  of  long  standing  have 
been  softened  or  quite  melted  down  ;  the  commingling 
of  the  people  of  the  State  from  border  to  border,  their 
forced  withdrawal  from  home,  and  submission  to  strange 
experiences  of  life,  have  tended  to  liberate  their  minds 
from  the  routine  and  thraldom  of  custom  and  long 
inherited  feelings  and  opinions,  and  to  open  the  avenue 
to  new  convictions ;  while  the  moral  force  of  the  posi- 
tion of  this  Church,  as  an  integral  part  of  the  Church 
of  the  Union,  and  not  merely  so  in  name  but  in  heart, 
is  apparent  to  all.  Equally  apparent  there  also  are  the 
symptoms  of  disintegration,  already  begun  in  the  pre- 


15 

vailing  religious  denominations,  under  the  growing 
introduction  of  schismatic  elements  from  abroad,  as 
well  as  rising  in  their  own  midst.  It  is  not  in  man  to 
stop  these  beginnings  and  seeds  of  changes.  None  can 
say  :  "  Thus  far,  and  no  farther."  None  ought  to  say  : 
"  Let  us  see,  that  we  may  know."  But  the  signs  of  a 
higher  life,  in  which  all  the  good  are  destined  to  bear 
a  moulding  part,  and  to  find  the  realization  of  all  their 
longings,  will  be  sure  to  develop  side  by  side  with  these 
changes.  The  theatre  of  this  development  is  plainly 
enough  indicated  by  the  great  fact  of  its  re-union,  as 
well  as  by  its  accordance  with  the  genius  of  our  civil 
institutions,  to  be  our  own  Catholic  and  Apostolic 
Church,  the  Church  co-extensive  with  the  Republic. 
We  see  no  other  hope  on  the  horizon  of  the  future. 

But  the  crying  want  of  our  Church  at  home,  if  it  is 
ever  to  be  popularized,  in  the  best  sense  of  that  word, 
is  the  want  of  a  native  ministry,  fresh  from  their  own 
soil.  Even  before  late  events,  the  Diocese  comprised 
within  its  limits  900,000  people  over  a  surface  of  48,000 
square  miles,  yet  numbered  upon  its  list  of  clergy  only 
some  four  or  five  above  fifty  !  the  greater  part  of  these 
living  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the  State ;  while  to 
whole  counties  and  clusters  of  counties  our  ministry 
was  unknown  face  to  face.  That  men  of  wealth,  when 
they  had  the  means  in  their  power  given  them  of  God, 
failed  to  meet  their  duty  toward  the  Church  of  God  in 
the  supply  of  her  want  of  ministers,  is  lamentably  true. 
They  neither  gave  their  sons,  nor  redeemed  them  by 
substitutes  or  by  offerings,  for  this  work  of  the  Lord. 
The  bitter  moral  of  the  past  may  be  read  in  the 
avenging  turn  of  human  affairs,  which  has  made  our 


16 

rich  men  poor,  and  our  poor  men  poorer;  but  still  the 
cry  for  a  ministry  growing  out  of  our  own  soil  con- 
tinues, and  waxes  louder  and  louder.  And  while  the 
demand  becomes  more  imperious,  the  prospects  of  re- 
munerated labor  in  the  harvest  of  souls  have  grown, 
by  the  marvellous  workings  of  Providence,  manifold 
times  more  encouraging.  It  may  be  truly  said,  that 
were  the  same  prospects  of  usefulness  and  extension 
opened  before  the  Church  of  Rome,  in  North  Carolina, 
as  now  spread  before  our  own  Church,  the  Roman 
Church  would  send  there,  at  a  word,  $1 00,000,  or  any 
other  needed  sum,  for  establishing  her  Missions  and 
her  Training  Schools  for  her  rising  clergy.  But  that 
is  a  soil  peculiarly  unfriendly  to  Romanism,  and  only 
the  more  so,  after  all  the  changes  of  life  during  late 
years.  Our  people  long  for  a  Church,  which,  while 
Catholic  and  National,  is  yet  Protestant.  They  find  a 
witness  for  that  Church  already  among  them,  in  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  the  United  States,  and 
a  refuge  for  them  when  the  assault  of  Romanism  shall 
have  begun  in  their  midst,  with  the  setting  in  South- 
ward of  the  tide  of  foreign  emigration.  The  friends 
and  members  of  this  Church  are  earnestly  invited  to 
rally  to  her  help  in  this,  her  time  of  need,  and  yet  of 
hope.  While  thanking  her  brethren  for  the  fellowship 
of  their,  charity,  in  relieving  the  temporal  wants  of 
many  of  her  clergy,  (not  to  mention  other  large  chari- 
ties, in  which  the  people  of  the  State,  aye,  of  the  whole 
South,  are  your  debtors,)  her  appeal  now  made,  in  the 
interest  of  the  Word  of  God,  is — Will  you  help  us  by 
the  means  which  God  has  blessed  you  with,  and  not 
taken  away  from  you,  as  he  has  from  us,  to  establish 


17 

an  Institution  that  shall  afford  a  permanent  supply  of 
ministers,  on  our  own  soil,  qualified  to  exercise  the 
duties  of  an  Evangelizing  ministry  to  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  profit  of  souls  ? 

We  need  an  Institution  where  an  evangelizing  clergy 
may  be  reared  in  the  very  bosom  of  the  work  itself 
going  on  among  the  people  of  the  country,  outside  of 
Parishes,  and  in  revival  of  the  old  itinerant  work  of  the 
Church  of  England,  in  the  then  Province  of  the  Caro- 
linas,  through  large  circuits,  long  before  the  era  of 
Methodism ;  these  having  a  common  centre,  to  which 
the  clergy  may  return  and  refresh  themselves,  by  study 
and  rest,  for  the  never-ceasing  round  of  duty  in  the 
missionary  field ;  where  their  families,  too,  (if  any,) 
shall  have  a  secure  home  during  their  absence,  and  their 
children,  while  growing  up,  not  be  without  paternal 
care.  That  such  a  plan  of  association  is  practicable 
as  shall  attain  all  these  ends,  cannot  be  reasonably 
doubted ;  neither  can  it  be  doubted  that  means  used, 
with  prayer,  for  eliciting  that  particular  kind  of  evan- 
gelic talent  that  lies  latent  as  yet,  because  unsought 
and  unprayed  for,  would  be  signally  blessed  by  the 
Lord  of  the  Harvest.  It  is  believed  that  the  sum  of 
$25,000,  judiciously  expended  and  invested  in  part  at 
this  time,  together  with  what  has  been  already  done, 
and  may  farther  be  expected  to  be  done,  at  home,  with 
returning  means,  will  enable  the  Diocese  to  set  the  pro- 
posed enterprise  on  a  firm  footing  under  an  efficient 
head.  In  any  event,  as  this  is  her  first  appeal  for  help, 
as  a  Diocese  abroad,  it  will  undoubtedly  be  her  last. 

The  reason  why  that  new  and  urgent  class  of  needs 
that  have  sprung  up  in  the   Southern  country — the 


18 

needs,  I  mean,  of  the  Freedmen — has  not  been  pre- 
sented to  you,  in  connection  with  this  Institution,  is 
the  fact,  that  within  a  few  months  past,  $50,000  have 
been  contributed  from  two  sources,  both  outside  the 
Diocese,  for  founding  a  Normal  School  for  the  educa- 
tion of  colored  teachers  of  both  sexes,  including  a  Theo- 
logical Department,  to  be  located  at  Raleigh,  under 
the  auspices  of  our  Church,  The  late  Convention  of 
the  Diocese  had  before  unanimously  recommended  the 
establishment  of  Church  schools  for  the  colored  people, 
as  well  as  sanctioned  the  ordination  of  qualified  col- 
ored persons  "  as  spiritual  teachers  and  pastors  of  their 
race." 

The  appeal  before  you,  brethren,  the  agent  hopes  to 
present  also  in  other  Atlantic  cities  during  the  present 
and  coming  month.  Whatever  sums  may  be  raised, 
can  all  be  advantageously  used,  should  they  be  more 
than  what  is  asked  for.  But  he  seeks  not  to  burden 
any.  His  appeal,  from  the  magnitude  of  the  work,  is 
necessarily  addressed,  in  a  more  especial  manner,  to 
men  of  large  means  and  equally  large  hearts.  Small 
sums  given  are  not  expected  to  make  up  the  amount 
required.  These,  when  gathered  diligently  and  syste- 
matically by  individuals,  are  found  adequate  to  relieve 
small  parishes  from  debt,  or  build  and  repair  small 
Churches,  or  assist  parochial  charities,  but  they  can- 
not reach  the  want  of  a  whole  Diocese  in  an  undertak- 
ing like  the  present,  without  an  amount  of  time  and 
labor  in  their  collection  to  which  no  one  agent  is  ade- 
quate. 

Your  speaker  and  agent  of  the  Diocese  of  North 
Carolina  earnestly  invites  those  of  you  who  are  blessed 


19 

with  means,  and  in  whose  hearts  God  may  have  stirred 
up  kindly  interest  in  the  subject  of  this  mission,  to 
judge  with  the  lights  before  them,  whether  the  cause 
be  not  worthy  of  their  hundreds,  aye,  of  their  thou- 
sands. If  the  expenditure  of  thousands  and  millions 
be  not  deemed  too  costly  a  sacrifice  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  Union,  is  it  too  much  to  ask,  even  of  patriotism, 
that  it  lend  a  helping  hand  to  that  Church  in  her  hour 
of  need,  which  survives  the  sole  representative  of  the 
Church  of  the  Union,  and,  we  believe,  can  do  more, 
while  fulfilling  her  own  proper  work,  for  re-knitting  the 
Union  of  the  States  in  the  hearts  of  the  people,  than  all 
other  agencies  put  together. 

Before  concluding,  suffer  me  to  introduce  you  to  the 
seat  of  the  proposed  Mission  House  and  Divinity 
School  of  North  Carolina,  which  lies  among  surround- 
ing scenes  of  unsurpassed  beauty,  in  the  village  of 
Asheville,  14  miles  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  and  near 
the  junction  of  the  Swananoa  and  French  Broad  Rivers. 
This  region  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge  in  North  Carolina 
embraces  about  100,000  inhabitants,  scattered  over  14 
counties,  or  a  seventh  part  of  the  surface  of  the  State. 
The  mountains,  covered  with  rich  soil  up  to  the  very 
tops,  are  crowned,  as  yet,  with  the  virgin  growth  of 
nature,  overtopped  all  by  "  the  Black  Dome,"*  the 
royal  diadem  of  the  dark-browed  Alleghanies.  "  The 
stones  are  iron,  and  out  of  the  hills  thou  may'st  dig 
brass."  The  land  is  intersected  with  rivers  that  run 
among  the  hills  in  rich  valleys.  No  rail-road  has  ever 
yet  penetrated  this  region,  though  several  thither  either 

•      *  Height,  6,707  feet. 


20 

have  been  designed  or  are  in  process  of  construction. 
Not  a  single  manufactory  is  known  within  its  limits. 
Hither  painters,  after  having  traversed  foreign  climes, 
resort  for  themes  of  the  pencil,  confessing  that  they 
had  left  behind  at  home  scenes  that  far  surpassed  them 
all  in  picturesque  beauty,  if  not  in  grandeur. 

The  wealthy  citizens  of  the  South  in  times  gone  by 
had  not  been  insensible  to  the  charms  of  this  region, 
nor  to  its  advantages  of  climate  during  the  hot  sum- 
mer months ;  for  in  spite  of  its  difficulty  of  access,  they 
had  been  accustomed  to  resort  to  its  springs,  or  had 
built  them  villas  in  the  valleys  or  on  the  mountain 
sides.  Asheville  is  its  most  important  village,  contain- 
ing about  1,000  inhabitants.  It  is,  as  we  have  said,  the 
seat  of  the  projected  Mission  and  School.  For  twenty 
years  past  your  speaker  has  been  almost  the  only  as 
he  was  the  first  representative  of  the  ministry  of  the 
Church  living  in  that  region.  During  those  years,  a 
Church  has  been  built  from  the  ground,  and  its  con- 
gregation gathered  in,  beside  his  travelling  from  one 
end  to  the  other,  at  different  times,  on  missionary  duty 
and  officiating  statedly  in  the  adjoining  country.  The 
Parish  and  its  minister  were  instrumental  in  procuring 
for  the  Diocese  the  property  before  described,  which 
is  entirely  freed  from  debt.  But  whatever  has  been 
done  in  the  course  of  his  ministry,  is  referred  to  only 
as  serving  to  explain  how  the  way  is  prepared  in  this 
region  for  the  establishment  of  an  Associate  Mission 
and  Training  School  for  a  rising  Clergy.  The  fruits 
of  past  labor  are  springing  to  view,  at  this  very  time, 
under  the  zealous  co-operation  of  two  licensed  lay  read- 
ers, who,  with  other  helps  from  the  congregation,  go  out 


21 

from  Asheville,  each  Sunday,  to  a  distance  of  from  three 
to  eleven  miles,  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  Sunday 
Schools  and  assisting  in  ministering  the  Word.  At 
one  of  these  stations,  a  building  that  serves  the  double 
purpose  of  school-room  and  chapel,  has  been  erected 
by  the  people  of  the  settlement  within  the  last  six 
months.  Twenty-eight  men,  women  and  children  were 
baptized  there,  and  eleven  confirmed  by  the  Bishop  at 
his  late  visitation.  At  the  farthest  station  is  the  seat 
of  a  Collegiate  Institute,  with  a  liberal  patronage 
through  adjoining  counties,  which  the  Trustees  have 
offered  to  convey  to  us  as  representing  the  Church,  on 
the  payment  of  a  small  balance  of  debt  due  on  it. 

Applications  also  for  services  have  been  made  from 
other  points  in  the  neighborhood,  which  it  has  been 
found  impossible  to  comply  with. 

Brethren,  the  appeal  of  the  Diocese  of  North  Caro- 
lina is  before  you,  through  her  accredited  agent.  The 
reasons  and  grounds  of  it  have  been  presented  to  you. 
May  He,  in  whose  hands  are  the  hearts  of  His  people, 
inspire  you  with  the  determination  "  to  strengthen  our 
hands  for  this  good  work." 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00034004489 

FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


Form  No.  A-368,  Rev.  8/95 


